This application discloses an invention that is related, generally and in various embodiments, to systems and methods for managing digital media rights in conjunction with online delivery of media over the Internet. The disclosed invention can be employed to ensure conformance of online delivery of digital media with applicable copyright rules.
Media are commonly stored and delivered in digital form in the state of the art implementations. With increasing popularity of the Internet and broadband access, it has also become routine to deliver video and audio content over the Internet in addition to text and images which dominated the earlier years of Internet use. Examples are the popular video sharing site YOUTUBE where users upload short videos freely accessed by others from around the world and NETFLIX where users pay subscriptions fees to view feature films online. Also becoming popular is digital distribution of written media in the form of e-books. For example, the electronic reader KINDLE provided by Amazons Inc., allows users to download electronic versions of books and read them on their KINDLE devices.
YOUTUBE has been very successful for sharing personally produced videos. In the case of professionally produced media content, managing fair use of the content respecting the rights of the content creators has been a struggle. In the state of the art, this is frequently managed by the video serving site requiring acknowledgement that the user uploading the video holds all the necessary rights to the content he is uploading. The user typically has the right to view the content that he is uploading but not always the right to share it publicly in a manner where anyone in the world can view it on the Internet. Nevertheless, this has not stopped many users from uploading copyrighted material anyway. Such improperly uploaded content typically remains available for other users to view until the copyright owner becomes aware of its presence and requests that it be removed. As a result, current approaches result in a chase between individual users and copyright owners that is likely frustrating for all involved. This state of affairs has been an important limiting factor in using YOUTUBE or similar open public service sites for viewing copyrighted content.
Other service sites such as NETFLIX require that the viewing users pay fees on a periodic or on a per use basis so that part of the proceeds can be shared with copyright owners for allowing the use of their material. This alternative model also has been quite successful for addressing a segment of the market complementing that addressed by YOUTUBE. Techniques to provide controlled access to media over the Internet according to rights licensed off-line from copyright holders have been provided in prior art such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,395 (DeMello, et al., July 2009), U.S. Pat. No. 7,496,540 (Irwin, et al. February, 2009), U.S. Pat. No. 7,493,289 (Verosub, et al. February, 2009), U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,363 (Alve, et al. February, 2009), U.S. Pat. No. 7,426,637 (Risan, et al. September, 2008), U.S. Pat. No. 7,386,514 (Major, et al. June, 2008)
The approaches provided in the prior art leave out a potentially important mode of operation. Although individuals typically do not have the right to broadcast media to the world on YOUTUBE by posting movies they purchased on a DVD, they do have the right to lend, rent or resell their DVDs to anyone they choose under the doctrine of first sale based on the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §109. Solutions currently available or any of the techniques provided in the prior art do not offer a mechanism for consumers to exercise their rights under the first sale doctrine in online applications on the Internet.